The present disclosure relates to antenna modules, and more specifically to antenna modules for vehicles.
A typical vehicle may host antennas for various wireless technologies, such as telephony (up to 4 antennas if Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) antennas are used), global navigation satellite system (GNSS), Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service (SDARS), Remote Key Entry (RKE), AM/FM/Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) etc. The number of antennas that may possibly be hosted in a vehicle is increasing with time. Traditionally, antennas are integrated in different locations of a vehicle. Such locations may vary. Example locations include the external rear view mirror, the Shark fin, the windscreen, the bumpers, the rain sensor position, the dashboard, etc.
The exterior view mirror is an external element of the car. Its available area is generally limited. Changes in the mirror design often imply an antenna redesign. As for the shark fin, this location is used mostly for telephony and GNSS. However, it is a visible location, and furthermore the available area is limited so, for instance, it is not feasible to implement a 4×4 MIMO antenna solution in the shark fin. With respect to the dashboard, it is mainly used for telephony, GNSS and RKE. However, performance of the antennas in the dashboard can be degraded if a thermal layer is used and especially for GNSS antennas because the GNSS antenna diagram pattern is pointing to the zenith (towards the GNSS satellites in the sky).
It is desirable to provide a solution for integrating various antennas at a single position of the vehicle to overcome at least some of the aforementioned issues.